Macrium Reflect Standard Version 5.0.4694-GPT Drive Backup

I replaced one of my internal hard drives with a 3 TB drive, and gave it the same drive letter as the drive it replaced. I can still mount the Macrium images of the replaced drive, but when I try to backup the new drive I get the error message “<disk> is not a valid disk number”.

Because of the size of the new drive I had to convert it to a GPT disk for Windows to be able to see the available space on the drive, and I assume that is causing the backup problem.

If anyone can tell me how to back up the GPT drive I would be grateful.

I seem to remember something about the size of HD's being limited. I believe the MBR can only recognize up to 2 Tb sized drive. You might have to partition that 3 Tb drive to at least 2 - 1.5 Tb partitions.

If anyone can tell me how to back up the GPT drive I would be grateful.

Roy,
Hello.... You can "backup" a GPT formatted HD with Macrium only if you have their "Pro" version..This is what i use, and have done this as well as a "Bare Metal recovery" useing "ReDeploy" Regards Fred

Last edited by Just Plain Fred; 2012-07-31 at 14:26.

PlainFred

None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free (J. W. Von Goethe)

I have FF13.01. When I allow Script (have addon NoScript), I can see the Macrium versions comparison chart which is not blocked by 'product boxes'.
I use Macrium Free 5.0 boot disc. (Actually I use a bootable USB flash of Macrium Free 5.0 WinPE. Boot from it to backup my DVD drive-less lapbook.)
I backed up to an external 3TB Hitachi USB drive. Macrium 5.0 Free can see the 3TB USB drive and backed up to it. Acronis Home 2010 boot disc could not see the 3TB USB drive. As a result, I could not use Acronis disc to do this backup.
(Acronis 2010 reported non-recognized hdd but could still display size, partition, etc. Only missing is the hdd label/name. And I could not choose it as destination.)
Looks like Macrium Free 5.0 is partially GPT compatible.
Information from Acronis says 2010/2011 version with PlusPack is compatible with GPT.
Also, I should not use my downloaded bootable iso. I should, instead, generate the boot disc from the installed 2010w/PlusPack program. In that way, PlusPack is integrated into the disc. That, I did not do. Maybe later.
I also did the same backup, for kicks, to an USB 500G (smaller size to avoid GTP problem). Macrium took about 5 hours; Acronis 8. So I drop the idea of making an Acronis PlusPack boot disc.
On newer, post 2011, Acronis versions, maybe the download iso already has PlusPack integrated.

Many thanks for all the replies. I converted the GPT disk to MBR and then wanted to split it into 2 equal sized partitions, but somehow messed up the process. I attach a screenshot of what Disk Management shows for the disk concerned (drive letter F) and if anyone can tell me what I need to do to end up with 2 equal sized partitions I would be very grateful. (If this involves deleting all the current volumes I don't mind because I have a complete up to date backup of Local Disk (F)).

First, I would use a 3rd party partition app. I use Partition Wizard. I assume your OS is in the first partition. Install in your OS partition.

I think the easiest way would be to open Partition Wizard, Choose Resize, grab the right side of the OS partition and drag it to the right across the entire HD. Click Apply. This will make the HD one partition. Then grab the right side and drag it approx. 1/ 2 way toward the left. This will leave unallocated space. Then format it as a logical drive.

The Following User Says Thank You to Medico For This Useful Post:

Ted, thanks a lot. I did exactly as you suggested regarding grabbing the right side of the OS partition and dragging it to the right across the entire HD. I clicked apply and Partition Wizard required a reboot to complete the operation, which it said completed successfully. However, after the reboot both Partition Wizard and Disk Management showed that the partition arrangement remained almost exactly the same as shown in my screenshot, i.e. with partition F now 2048 GB, and the unallocated space at 746.52 GB. I opened Partition Wizard again but could not grab the right side of the OS partition.

Is the problem due to the hard drive size of 3TB, and if so I assume I will have to delete the volumes and then change them to the GPT type.

Have you tried to grab the left side of the 746 Gb partition and dragged it to the left so that each occupies approx. half the HD? You may not need to expand the first partition to occupy the entire HD before creating the 2 partitions.